Merging disk image image chains

Context

Sometimes a disk image chain can get long and cumbersome. For the purpose of illustration, consider this smaller disk image chain:

base.raw <-- a.qcow2 <-- b.qcow2 <-- c.qcow2 (live QEMU)

You may want to reduce the backing chain length, or consolidate all the disk images in the chain into a single image. But you want to accomplish this without incurring guest down time. Here's how to go about it.

The same principles used in the live full disk backup <https://libvirt.org/kbase/live_full_disk_backup.html> document are used here too.

Reducing the disk image chain length

Starting the earlier image chain:

base.raw <-- a.qcow2 <-- b.qcow2 <-- c.qcow2 (live QEMU)

Reduce the length of the chain by two images, with the resulting chain being:

base.raw <-- c.qcow2 (live QEMU)

Where the base.raw contains the contents of a.qcow2 and b.qcow2.

  1. Start by listing the current active disk image in use:

    $ virsh domblklist vm1
Target     Source
------------------------------------------------
vda        /var/lib/libvirt/images/base.raw

  2. Create the image chain by creating three QCOW2 overlays (or "external snapshots") on top of each other, while adding some differentiating content in each image:

    $ virsh snapshot-create-as --domain vm1 snap1 \
    --diskspec vda,file=/var/lib/libvirt/images/a.qcow2 \
    --disk-only --no-metadata

# <Add a file in the guest>

$ virsh snapshot-create-as --domain vm1 snap2 \
    --diskspec vda,file=/var/lib/libvirt/images/b.qcow2 \
    --disk-only --no-metadata

# <Add another file in the guest>

$ virsh snapshot-create-as --domain vm1 snap3 \
    --diskspec vda,file=/var/lib/libvirt/images/c.qcow2 \
    --disk-only --no-metadata

  3. Enumerate the backing file chain (here the force-share option simply allows qemu-img to safely query the disk image status while it is active)

    $ qemu-img info --force-share --backing-chain /var/lib/libvirt/images/cur.qcow2
[...]

  4. Again, list the current active disk image in use:

    $ virsh domblklist vm1
Target     Source
------------------------------------------------
vda        /var/lib/libvirt/images/c.qcow2

  5. Perform the "block-commit" by specify the "base" and "top" images, i.e. merge the contents of b.qcow2 and a.qcow2 into base.raw, and

    $ virsh blockcommit vm1 vda \
    --base=/var/lib/libvirt/images/base.raw
    --top=/var/lib/libvirt/images/b.qcow2

A note on accessing 'base' and 'top' images

Specifying file paths, as above, make sense when your disks are in the local filesystem. However, when using more complicated setups such as network block device (NBD) disks, there are no file paths. Hhere is where accessing the disk by its index number comes into picture.

As an example, the below is the <disk> element of the guest XML for with the original disk image chain of four images:

...
<disk type='file' device='disk'>
  <driver name='qemu' type='qcow2'/>
  <source file='/var/lib/libvirt/images/c.qcow2' index='4'/>
  <backingStore type='file' index='3'>
    <format type='qcow2'/>
    <source file='/var/lib/libvirt/images/b.qcow2'/>
    <backingStore type='file' index='2'>
      <format type='qcow2'/>
      <source file='/var/lib/libvirt/images/a.qcow2'/>
      <backingStore type='file' index='1'>
        <format type='raw'/>
        <source file='/var/lib/libvirt/images/base.raw'/>
        <backingStore/>
      </backingStore>
    </backingStore>
  </backingStore>
  <target dev='vda' bus='virtio'/>
  <alias name='virtio-disk0'/>
  <address type='pci' domain='0x0000' bus='0x00' slot='0x05' function='0x0'/>
</disk>
...

And we can merge the images a.qcow2 and b.qcow2 into base.qcow2 using the index numbers 1 (for base.qcow2) and

$> virsh blockcommit vm1 vda --base='vda[1]' --top='vda[3]'

Note that the shell quoting is necessary here, since unquoted [1] would do an unexpected shell "globbing" (i.e. file name expansion) if you have a file '1' in the current directory

Accessing the disk images via their index numbers is more useful when you're using blockCommit() API programmatically.

Consolidating an entire disk image chain into a single image

Again, starting the original image chain:

base.raw <-- a.qcow2 <-- b.qcow2 <-- c.qcow2 (live QEMU)

Reduce the length of the chain by two images, with the resulting chain being:

base.raw (live QEMU)

Where the base.raw contains the contents of a.qcow2, b.qcow2 and c.qcow2; and the live QEMU is piovoted to point to the base.raw.

  1. Use the same procedure discussed earlier to create the disk image chain.

  2. Now perform the "active block-commit" operation:

    $ virsh blockcommit vm1 vda --verbose --pivot --active
Block Commit: [100 %]
Successfully pivoted

Notes:

  • --active: It performs a two-stage operation: first, the contents from top images (a.qcow2, b.qcow2, and c.qcow2) are committed into the base image; and in the second stage, the "block-commit" operation remains awake to synchronize any further changes from top images into base. Here the user can take two actions: cancel the job, or pivot the job, i.e. adjust the base image as the current active image.

  • --pivot: Once data is committed from sn1, sn2 and current into base, it pivots the live QEMU to use base as the active image.

  • --verbose: It shows the progress of block operation.

  1. Again, check the current active block device in use:

    $ virsh domblklist vm1
Target     Source
------------------------------------------------
vda        /var/lib/libvirt/images/base.raw

  2. Enumerate the backing file chain:

    $ qemu-img info --backing-chain /var/lib/libvirt/images/base.raw
[...]

    And the final resulting disk image "chain" will be a single, consolidated disk image:

    [base] (live QEMU)

It is worth bearing in mind that once the above pivot completes, all three overlay files — a.qcow2, b.qcow2, and c.qcow2 — are no longer valid, and can be safely discarded.